Proceedings of Third Biennial National Conference, NCNTE- 2012, Feb 24-25

Design and Simulation of three phase Inverter for grid

connected Photovoltic systems
Miss. Sangita R Nandurkar 1, Mrs. Mini Rajeev 2
Department of Electrical Engineering
Fr.C.Rodrigues Institute of Technology,
Vashi, Navi Mumbai, India
sangita.nandurkar@gmail.com
minirajeev1@yahoo.co.in
Abstract Grid connected photovoltaic (PV) systems feed
electricity directly to the electrical network operating parallel to
the conventional source. This paper deals with design and
simulation of a three phase inverter in MATLAB SIMULINK
environment which can be a part of photovoltaic grid connected
systems. The converter used is a Voltage source inverter (VSI)
which is controlled using synchronous d-q reference frame to
inject a controlled current into the grid. Phase lock loop (PLL) is
used to lock grid frequency and phase. The design of low pass
filter used at the inverter output to remove the high frequency
ripple is also discussed and the obtained simulation results are
presented.

II.

Keywords- VSI Inverter, PLL, d-q refrance frame, grid

connected system.

I.

DEMANDS AND STANDARDS

In order to connect an inverter to the grid, the generated

power has to comply with the standards given by utility
companies. The standards like IEEE1547, IEC61727 &
ENC61000-3-2 deals with issues like power quality, detection
of islanding operation, amount of injected current into grid,
total harmonic distortion (THD) etc. IEEE1547 & IEC61727
standard puts the limitation on maximum amount of injected
current into the grids. This limits are very small (0.5% and 1%
of rated output currents) and such small values are very
difficult to measure. This problem can be resolved by
introducing a line frequency transformer between inverter and
grid [1]. Assuming that both grid voltage and grid current
contain only fundamental components and they are in phase
the instantaneous power (pgrid) injected into the grid is given by
(1).

INTRODUCTION

p grid 2 Pgrid Sin 2 ( grid t )

The continuously increasing energy consumption,

overloads the distribution grids by creating problems such as
outages, grid instability, deterioration of power quality, power
security etc. To balance the energy demand and generation,
renewable energy resources such as Photovoltaic (PV), Wind,
and Biomass could be a good solution. Among these, solar
energy is considered to be one of the most useful sources
because it is free, abundant, pollution free and maintenance
free. Since the generated voltage from PV is DC, we need
inverter for converting DC voltage from PV to AC before
connecting it to grid. Grid is a voltage source of infinite
capability. The output voltage and frequency of inverter should
be same as that of grid frequency and voltage. The output of
grid connected inverter can be controlled as a voltage or
current source and pulse width modulated (PWM) voltage
source inverters (VSI) are most widely use in PV systems.

(1)

Where Pgrid is the average power injected into the grid, grid
is the angular frequency and t is the time [1].Table I. deals with
different standards and THD limits of connecting 10KW and
30 KW to the grid.
TABLE I. STANDARDS OF INTERCONNECTION OF PV SYSTEM
TO THE GRID

The work done related to PV grid connected systems

published so far [6]-[7] reveals how an inverter should be
designed and output should be synchronized with the grid.
Different control strategy to control grid current using p-q
theory and d-q theory with phase lock loop (PLL) control has
been discussed in those papers.

Issues

IEC61727

IEE1547

Nominal
Power

10KW

30KW

Harmonis
currents
Limits

The work presented here is about the simulation of a VSI

where the output current of inverter is controlled in
synchronously rotating d-q reference frame. PLL is used to
synchronize grid with PV. The relevant standards and design of
the entire system, simulink models and results obtained are
presented in the subsequent sections.

Maximum
current THD

80

Harmonics

THD

Harmonics

THD

3-9
11-15
17-21
23-33

4%
2%
1.5%
0.6%

3-9
11-15
17-21
23-33
(>)35

4%
2%
1.5%
0.6%
0.3%

5.0%

5.0%

Proceedings of Third Biennial National Conference, NCNTE- 2012, Feb 24-25

III.

DESIGN DETAILS OF THE SYSTEM

Typically the ripple current can be chosen as 10% - 15% of

rated current. Considering 10% ripple at the rated current the
designed value of inductor (L) in the system [3]-[4] is given
by (2)

A. Inverter and Transformer

3 phase
Inverter

Grid

iLmax = * Vdc / L* fs

Transformer

Filter

Vabc

The capacitor C is designed based on reactive power supplied

by the capacitor at fundamental frequency. In this design
reactive power is chosen as 15% of the rated power [3] is given
by (3)

Iabc
PLL
dq
PWM

abc

(2)

C = 15%* Prated / 3*2 f * V

Fig.1 Block diagram of the system

(3)

rated

C. Control Stratergy
The control strategy applied for inverter consists of two control
loops. Usually there is a fast inner control loop which controls
grid current and an external voltage loop which control dc link
voltage. The current control loop is responsible for power
quality issues like low THD and good power factor, whereas
voltage control loop balances the power flow in the system [5].
Synchronous reference frame control also called d-q control
uses a reference frame transformation abc to dq which
transforms the grid current and voltages into d-q frame. The
transformed voltage detects phase and frequency of grid,
whereas transformed current controls the grid current. Thus the
control variables becomes dc values, hence filtering and
controlling becomes easier [6].

The block diagram of the grid connected inverter system is

given in Fig.1. The three phase full bridge inverter topology is
the most widely used configuration in three phase systems. The
inverter selected is current controlled voltage source inverter
that has an amplitude modulation index (ma) of 0.9.
MOSFETS are used as the switching element which is operated
at a frequency of 20 KHz. Bi-polar PWM technique is used in
which switches in each pair are turned ON and OFF
simultaneously and output voltage varies between Vdc and
+Vdc, where Vdc is the input voltage of inverter which is
considered as battery as shown in block diagram. The output
of each leg depends only on input voltage and switch status and
is independent of load current. The output voltage required is
415V rms at the grid.
Transformer steps up the inverter output voltage. Besides
this, it provides isolation and prevents injection of dc current in
to the grid Generally delta-star transformer configuration is
used in grid connected system because the third harmonic will
get circulated in delta and does not enter in the grid. The
design is for feeding 1KW power generated by PV to grid. This
means transformer should provide 1KW power to the grid. So
transformer rating is selected as 1250VA with a secondary
voltage of 415 volt (L-L).

PWM
Inverter

Grid

PLL

Vdc

Iabc

Vabc
abc

abc

dq

dq

B. LC Fiter
Output voltage wave is synchronized with the grid voltage.
So the PWM inverter will inject ripple current in to the
grid. The output LC filter is connected to remove high
switching frequency components from output current of
inverter[2].The filter is designed taking into account the
following parameters for the grid and inverter as shown in
Table II. The value of L is design based on current ripple.
Smaller ripple results in lower switching and conduction
losses.

Iq

Id
PI

Iq*= 0
*

Id
Vdc*

PI

PI

Vd*

Vq*

TABLE II. DESIGN PARAMETERS

PWM
Inverter

dq
Grid line voltage

V L-L=415V

Grid phase voltage

DC source voltage

Vph=240 V
Vdc= 250V

Output power fed to grid

Pn =1000 W

Grid Frequency

f = 50 Hz

Switching frequency

fs= 20 KHz

abc

Vabc*
Fig.2 General structure for synchronous rotating d-q reference frame
control.

The schematic of the d-q control is shown in Fig.2. The DC

link voltage is actually fed from PV. For the simulation, battery

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Proceedings of Third Biennial National Conference, NCNTE- 2012, Feb 24-25

is used as input of inverter. The reference for active current

control is set by DC link voltage, whereas reactive power
control reference is set to zero, as reactive power control is not
done here. If reactive power has to be controlled a reference
must be set in the system for that also.

Continuous
powergui
1

qs

Va
b

Vqe_de

Vq_d

Vb

ds

we

3
Vc

D. Phase lock loop(PLL)

Grid synchronizations plays important role for grid
connected systems. It synchronizes the output frequency and
phase of grid voltage with grid current using different
transformation. Different methods to extract phase angle have
been developed and presented in many papers up to now [8][11] PLL techniques causes one signal to track another one. It
keeps an output signal synchronized with a reference input
signal in frequency and phase. In three phase grid connected
system PLL can be implemented using the d-q transformation
and with a proper design of loop filter.

abc -qs ds

v s_d
v _de

Error

1
s

we

v s_q

Product2
sin_e

constant
v _qe

cos_e

PI Controller

dq/ de -qe
-1
cos

Product3

sin

1
s

Gain

Harmonic Oscillator

Fig.4 PLL model

350

300

Fig.3 shows the block diagram of three phase PLL, where

Vabc is the sensed grid voltage which is transformed in to DC
components using coordinate transformation abc-dq and the
PLL gets locked by setting Vd* to zero. The loop filter PI is a
low pass filter. It is used to suppress high frequency component
and provide DC controlled signal to voltage controlled
oscillator (VCO) which acts as an integrator. The output of the
PI controller is the inverter output frequency that is integrated
to obtain inverter phase angle . When the difference between
grid phase angle and inverter phase angle is reduced to zero
PLL becomes active which results in synchronously rotating
voltages Vd = 0 and Vq gives magnitude of grid voltage.

Frequency(radians)

250

200

150

100

50

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1
Time

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

Fig.5 Output frequency obtained from PLL

SIn& Cos theat genrate by PLL
1

0.8

0.6

Sine & Cosine theat

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

0.2

Time

Vd*=

VCO

0
PI

Fig.6 Sin & Cos wave generated by PLL

600
Refrance grid voltage
PLL output voltage

Vd
Vabc

dq

Vq

Synchronised output voltages

400

200

-200

-400

-600

abc

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1
Time

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

Fig.7 Synchronization between reference grid voltage & PLL output

voltage

The inverter output frequency locked by PLL is 314 rad/sec

which is 50 Hz as shown in Fig.5.The simulation results of
PLL shows that when grid phase angle equals to inverter phase
angle, the error at the output of phase detector becomes zero
and equals to reference Vd* and lock is set by PLL. The output
controlled signal from PI regulator to VCO generates the Sin
and Cos required for abc-dq and dq- abc transformation in
control loop as shown in Fig.6. PI controller gain was varied to
obtain zero phase error and to detect accurate inverter phase
angle. Synchronization between output of inverter phase and
grid phase angle is achieved by locking PLL not only at zero

Fig.3 General structure of three phase d-q PLL

IV.

SIMULATION RESULTS

Based on the design, simulation of the entire system is

done in Simulink. PLL model is shown in Fig.4 and the entire
system model is shown in Fig.8. PLL is developed for grid
voltage of 415 V rms.

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0.2

Proceedings of Third Biennial National Conference, NCNTE- 2012, Feb 24-25

crossing but at every instant of time between 0 to 2.

Synchronization between rotating reference frame PLL output
voltage and grid voltages is shown in Fig.7. The abc to dq
current transformation results in dc component of Id and Iq
components. The Id component controls the active current
necessary to feed active power to grid. The DC magnitude of Id
obtained in simulation is approximately equal to 2.42 Ampere.
The reference voltages obtained by inverse transformation are
compared with triangular wave which generates PWM signal
required by inverter. In closed loop current control of inverter,
the active power fed by inverter to grid is 1000 Watt as shown
in Fig.10.The voltage at the output of inverter remains always
constant and obtained magnitude in simulation is 415*2
which is 586.89Volt(peak to peak) as shown in Fig.9.

The FFT analysis of output current of inverter shows that

THD is very low and obtained simulation results is 1.78%.
V.

The design of the system is carried out for feeding 1KW

power to the grid The Inverter is controlled in order to feed
active power to the grid, using synchronous d-q transformation.
PLL is used to lock grid frequency and phase. The phase
detection part of PLL is properly done by using dq
transformation in the three phase system.
The FFT analysis of the inverter output current shows that
the THD is within limits and the controlled injected current
generates three phase balance current which controls power at
the output of the transformer.

INVERTER connected to grid with transformer & PLL

Continuous

[Va]
Va Pll output

Out2

[g2]

Out3

[g3]

To simulate the actual grid connected PV system, the PV

model, dc to dc converter model and the control of the dc to dc
converter should be included in place of the battery source.

powergui

[g1]

Out1

[Vb]

Out4

[g4]

Out5

[g5]

Vb

Sin

Vc

Cos

PLL O/P
[Sin]

[Cos]

[Vc]
PLL subsystem

[Va]

REFERENCES

[Vb]
[g6]

Out6

[Vc]

PWM subsystem

Inverter subsytem

Soeren Baekhoej, John K Pedersen & Frede Blaabjerg, A Review of

single phase grid connected inverter for photovoltaic modules, IEEE
transaction on Industry Application , Vol. 41,pp. 55 68, Sept 2005
[2] Milan Pradanovic& Timothy Green, Control and filter design of three
phase inverter for high power quality grid connection, IEEE
transactions on Power Electronics,Vol.18. pp.1- 8, January 2003
[3] C Y Wang,Zhinhong Ye& G.Sinha, Output filter design for a grid
connected three phase inverter,Power electronics Specialist
Conference, pp.779-784,PESE 2003
[4] Samul Araujo& Fernando Luiz, LCL fiter design for grid connected
NPC inveters in offshore wind turbins, 7th International conference on
Power Electronics, pp. 1133-1138, October 2007.
[5] Frede Blaabjerg , Remus Teodorescu and Marco Liserre, Overview of
control & grid synchronization for distributed power generation
systems, IEEE transaction on Industrial Electronics, Vol. 53, pp. 500
513,Oct- 2006
[6] Mateus F Schonardie and Denizar C Martins, Application of the dq0
transformation in the three phase grids connected PV system with active
and reactive power control, Power Electronics Specialists Conference.
pp. 1202 1208, June 2008
[7] G. Adamidis and G. Tsengenes, Three phase grid connected
photovoltaic system with active and reactive power control using
instantaneous reactive power theory, International Conference on
Renewable Energies and Power Quality, pp. 8 16, March 2010
1996
[8] S.K. Chung, Phase lock loop for grid connected 3 phase power
conversion system, IEE Proc. Electr. Power Application, Vol. 147, pp.
213 - 219, May 2000
[9] Adrian Tim bus, Re mus Teodorescu and Frede
Blaabjerg,
Synchronization methods for 3 phase distributed power generation
system -An overview & evolution, pp. 2474- 2484, 2005
[10] Francisco D Freijedo, Jesus Dovel & Oscar Lopez, Grid
synchronization methods for power converters, pp. 522- 529, 2009
[11] Guan Chyan Hsieh & James .C Hung, Phase- Lock Loop Techniques
- A Survey , IEEE Transaction on Industrial Electronics, Vol. 43, pp.
50- 60, December1999.
[12] N.Mohan,T. M.Undeland, and W.P.Robbins,Power Electronics, Third
edition, India Willy 2010.pp.185-248
[1]

Voltag/currnt o/p

Vabc
A

Conn2
+v e

Iabc
A

Conn3
Conn5

Conn4

Vabc
transformer o/p, V/I
Iabc

LC Filter
star connected

A
B
C

b
C

3 Phase Delta/Star
Transformer(step-up)

Vabc
A
Iabc

A
B
C

Grid V/I

B a
b

Grid Impedance
C

Three-Phase
V-I Measurement4

Grid

[Idref]

[Id]
abc

[Sin]
240

dq0
sin_cos

PI

Vdcref

[Cos]

Add

[Vdc]

[Iq]

abc_to_dq0
Transformation

Scope10

[Vdref]

[Idref]

[Vdref]

PI
Add1

[Id]

[Varef]
[Vqref]

Scope11

dq0
abc

[Vbref]

sin_cos

[Vqref]

dq0_to_abc
Transformation

[Sin]
0

[Vcref]

PI

Iqref= 0

[Cos]

Add2

[Iq]

Scope12

Fig.8 Model of inverter connected to grid

600

400

3 phase voltages

200

-200

-400

-600

0.005

0.01

0.015

0.02
Time in seconds

0.025

0.03

0.035

0.04

Fig.9 Three phase voltage fed by inverter to grid

1200

1000

Active power in watts

800

600

400

200

0
0.01

CONCLUSION

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.07

0.08

0.09

0.1

Time

Fig .10 Average active power fed to grid is 1000 Watt

83